Cubans Line Up For A Legal Trip To U.s.

HAVANA, Cuba — They start to arrive at the crack of dawn - some on bicycles, others hitchhiking, a few riding trains that churn through the Cuban countryside for hours.

All seek the same goal: A visa to the United States.

While rafters row away from the Cuban coastline in hordes these days, countless other Cubans head for the U.S. Interest Section, the United States' diplomatic mission in Havana, hoping to get a legal trip to the United States.

The majority apply for a tourist - or "non-immigration" - visa, which will allow them to visit relatives in the United States. A few of those on line privately admit that if they go, they will not come back.

Fearing just that, the United States rejects almost two visa applications for every one granted. Last year, 27,304 visas were issued, but more than 42,000 applications were denied.

On Saturday, President Clinton said the trip could become even harder. Charter flights between Miami and Havana will be restricted to Cubans with immigrant visas, Clinton said on Saturday. He didn't elaborate - and State and Justice Department officials were still trying to figure out if that means tourist travel will be banned.

"Hope is the last thing you lose," said Balbina Sirve, 63, who wants to visit a sister in Miami who she hasn't seen in 23 years.

Applying for a U.S. visa in Havana is a long waiting game.

The Cuban government runs the line outside the U.S. Interest Section. People who show up are issued a letter and number code, 1,000 numbers to each letter. Every few days, they must return to keep their place. The typical wait is about one month.

Each return means a few more hours of waiting beneath the sun.

"You lose a little bit of your life out here," said Pedro Learas, 44, who was standing in line for his 85-year-old father.

Many more hours of waiting stand between Consuelo Hernandez and a visa application. Hernandez is a housewife from Holguin; on July 2 she rode a train for 15 hours to get to Havana.

When she got in line eight weeks ago, she was issued number K282. When the Interest Section stopped visa work at noon on Monday, front of the line was J769. The Interest Section processes only 200 to 300 applications per day.

Few trains and buses are running because of fuel shortages, so for almost two months, Hernandez has stayed with relatives in Havana.

Even when Hernandez gets to the front of the line, it's unlikely she'll get a friendly hearing. The Interest Section rejected a visa request from her last year. Still, she's going ahead with another application. She wants to visit a sister in New York.

"I have a premonition that I will travel," Hernandez said. "But who knows?'' Most older Cubans in line said they would return to Cuba because of family and other ties. Many of the younger Cubans, however, do not have those ties.

Carlos Manuel Menendez, 22, admitted that he would be tempted to stay if he is allowed to visit the United States.

He is studying to become a chemistry teacher at the University of Havana. But he is not looking forward to professional life in today's Cuba, where teachers earn the equivalent of $2 to $3 a month.

The diplomats at the U.S. Interest Section seem to know this. Twice they have rejected Menendez's requests for visas.

"I lose nothing by trying again," he said. "The doors [of opportunity) are closed," he said, balancing himself against his purple bicycle.

When the Interest Section stopped taking applications for the day, the crowd started to thin. Some set off on bicycles for home. Others waited for the overcrowded buses that roll through the city. Many will return to the line today.

Waldo Alvarez, 32, headed for the home of an acquaintance, who will rent him a room for 50 Cuban pesos a night - roughly a fourth of Alvarez's official monthly salary as a radio technician in Matanzas.

Alvarez spent all night Sunday on a train to get to Havana. His lunch - white rice and a few strips of sausage - is in a box. He doesn't know if he will be able to find dinner.

Although Alvarez knows his chances of getting a visa are slight, he said the trip and its discomforts are worth it.

"It's the only way," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "What other options do we have?''